The Piri Reis Map: A Corner of Paper That Won’t Behave
Most people have never heard of Piri Reis, an Ottoman admiral and cartographer who drew a world map in 1513.
And yet, this shredded fragment has become one of the most controversial artifacts in alternative history.
Why?
Because Piri Reis didn’t just draw it and call it a day. He left notes — handwritten, arrogant, confident — explaining exactly what he did.
He claimed he based his map on more than 100 older source maps, some allegedly copied from materials rescued after the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.
That’s where Hancock’s eyes light up.
Because if ancient knowledge survived the burning of the greatest library on Earth… then civilization didn’t simply “start over.”
It inherited secrets.
And according to Hancock, this map contains details that shouldn’t have been possible in 1513 — especially one technical nightmare:
Longitude.
But longitude? That’s the hard one.
To get longitude accurately, navigators needed precise timekeeping, something history says didn’t truly become practical until the invention of the chronometer centuries later.
Yet Hancock argues that the Piri Reis map shows relative positioning that looks disturbingly close to modern mapping standards.
A retired navigation historian once called maps like this “a problem child” in the history of cartography — because they’re not just wrong in an ancient way.
They’re wrong in a modern way.
And that makes them difficult to laugh off.
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